Generator

​Using principles similar to those deployed in large hydroelectric power plants, a team of Chinese researchers has developed a tiny nanogenerator that can potentially sit inside a vein and generate electricity from blood rushing through it.

Imagine having a fridge-sized box in your home that generates and stores electricity, heats and cools the house, provides hot water and churns out oxygen and hydrogen to use or sell. New Atlas spoke to two of the minds behind this potentially game-changing "Swiss army knife" of energy production.

One way of providing electricity to parts of the world that still have no access is to give them the means to generate it themselves. That's the approach being taken by Billions in Change. Its Free Electric bike lets users produce electricity by pedalling.

Armed with a special nanogenerator and a toy Jeep, researchers have demonstrated that the energy wastage caused by friction as car tires roll across the road can be captured and turned into electricity. It's a development that could bring about better fuel efficiency in cars of the future.

Researchers are laying claim to having observed piezoelectricity in an atomically thin material for the first time. The effect was demonstrated in the world's thinnest electric generator made from a two-dimensional MoS2 material.

While grid-fed portable electronics chargers are ample for use around town, things get more complicated when you venture off the grid. A new backpack cuts reliance on external power sources, harvesting energy from something much more reliably available … you.

The Power Pallet works by burning available biomass, but before the fuel is fully combusted, the resulting flammable gases like hydrogen and carbon monoxide are spirited away to be used instead as fuel in a General Motors engine that acts as an electrical generator.

Researchers at KAIST have developed a lightweight, flexible and high-efficiency thermoelectric generator that can harness your body heat to generate a small amount of electricity. The device could be used to extend the battery life of low-power wearable devices.